Physico-Chemical Characterization and Estimation of the Biological Activity of Bioactive Compounds

The group is working on the development of analytical techniques for the physicochemical characterization of drug candidates in the process of “drug discovery”. The large amount of potential drugs managed in the drug discovery process requires these methods to be fast and high-throughput.

The group studies methods for characterizing acidity, lipophilicity, solubility, protein binding and biological activity of bioactive drugs by chromatographic and electrophoretic techniques, supplemented by potentiometric and calorimetric ones.

The partitioning properties of chromatographic and electrophoretic systems, including Reversed-Phase Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC), Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography (HILIC), Immobilized Artificial Membranes Liquid Chromatography (IAM-LC), Micellar Liquid Chromatography (MLC), Microemulsion Liquid Chromatography (MELC), Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography (MEKC), Liposome Electrokinetic Chromatography (LEKC) and Microemulsion Electrokinetic Liquid Chromatography (MEEKC), are also studied. The QSAR approach for system characterization is usually the model of solvation parameters of Abraham. This model evaluates the interactions by lone electron pairs, dipolarity/polarizability, hydrogen bonding acidity and basicity, and dispersion forces and cavity formation between the solute and the partioning solvent and it allows comparison with those of other systems, either physicochemical or biological. The ultimate goal is to establish chromatographic approaches that surrogate ADMET systems, such as toxicity, blood-brain partition or permeation through the skin. In this way, these biopartition properties can be estimated directly from the measurement of chromatographic retention.